Sorry
by faberrittanaheyachele
Summary: They've known each other all their life, but high school has changed them. When their paths are finally crossed again, the reason comes as a shock for both of them.
1. Chapter 1

AN: A random Faberry one shot that I literally just found on my iPad. I'd totally forgotten about this! I remember writing it now back in December when I first got my iPad. It's super short and I'm sorry, I can't really even explain it. I guess I was just feeling a little Faberry when I wrote it and this is what happened.

* * *

**Sorry**

Quinn had known Rachel for an extremely long time. Since they were just small kids, actually. They first met in middle school, and they had been best friends all the way through it. However, when they moved into high school, Quinn became the queen bee. She was captain of the Cheerios and she had Finn, the quarterback. She ruled McKinley. People would part like the Red Sea when she walked down the halls. Rachel, however, was the school loser. People would slushy her every single day, and her lipstick was flushed down the toilet almost everyday. The worst part of it was that it was usually Quinn doing it. When they started high school, everything had changed. In a bad way. A terrible way.

Quinn was a bitch to Rachel, and now...Rachel wanted nothing to do with Quinn. She'd never done anything bad to her and didn't deserve this kind of treatment from her. Her best friend. Well, old best friend. Quinn Fabray had recently broken up with her boyfriend, Finn Hudson, and ever since then, she had started to miss Rachel Berry, and also start to think about her a lot. Why weren't they friends anymore?

* * *

On Wednesday, just before Cheerios practice, Quinn slipped a note into Rachel's locker. She'd typed it up just in case Rachel recognised her handwriting. The note had said:

Meet me tonight at Breadstix, 5pm. Table 3. It's really important that I speak to you. It's kind of an emergency. Please be there.

As Quinn ran the way to Cheerios practice, she hoped that Rachel would see the note and actually turn up. Quinn would have to be quick leaving practice, as she had arranged to meet Rachel fifteen minutes after it finished. Of course, Rachel had know idea who the note was from or who she was meeting. If she knew, there was a slight chance that she might not want to go. It had been three years since they'd actually spoken as friends and not just Quinn...well, bullying her.

* * *

When Quinn arrived at Breadstix, she scanned the restaurant and her eyes immediately landed on the petite brunette sitting at table three. A smile spread across her face as she realised that Rachel had decided to turn up. Quinn took a deep breath before walking across the room, headed for the table she had told Rachel to meet her at.

"Rachel," she said, smiling at the still tiny brunette. "Hi."

Rachel seemed to look horrified and her eyes were scared as she looked up to see the blonde Cheerio standing there.

"What are you doing here, Fabray?" she asked, clearly not happy to see Quinn. Her voice sounded shaky and frightened.

"Rachel, I put that note in your locker," Quinn told her, causing Rachel's eyes to bulge. When Quinn sat down, Rachel straight away stood up and looked down at the blonde who was now just a stranger to her. Their friendship was just a distant memory to Rachel. It hurt too much to look at Quinn. She was always so afraid of her, now.

"What? You got bored of terrorising me in school so you thought that you'd arrange to meet me outside of school to do it instead? Stay away from me, Quinn. Please. I beg you!" she pleaded, causing Quinn's eyes to sting with hurt.

"No, Rachel! Don't go. Please, just sit down. I wanted to talk to you. Well, actually...I wanted to apologise to you, Rachel." Rachel gave Quinn a questioning look but finally sat down and told Quinn to carry on.

"I just wanted to say that...I'm sorry, Rachel. I am so sorry! Ever since Finn and I broke up, I've been thinking a lot about these last few years, and how different they have been compare to how we used to be. Rachel, we were best friends. Now look at us. What happened? Don't answer that. I already know the answer. I happened. I've been a bitch, Rachel. A bully. But I don't want to be anymore. I want the old days back. No, actually, I want more..."

Rachel could actually see tears forming in Quinn's eyes and she couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Quinn looked and felt so guilty; she felt so bad.

"Rachel, I not only wanted to say that I'm sorry, but also that...Rachel, I love you."

Rachel didn't know what to say. What was Quinn saying?

Quinn was looking down at the table, wiping her tears away and trying her best to make it look like she wasn't and never had been crying.

"You don't understand how hard that was for me just then, Rachel. Please say you love me back. Please," Quinn begged, her voice quiet and frightened.

"I do, Quinn," Rachel whispered. Her own voice was now afraid again, but not in the way it had been before. Oh, no. Now it was in a completely different way. "I do."

Quinn whispered "sorry" one last time as the two leaned forward, closer to one another.


	2. Chapter 2

Some of you said you would like me to continue the story, and I myself decided I would like to continue it, so I'm back with a second chapter! I have lots of ideas for this story, and I hope to make it a fairly long story. I think I'm aiming for about twenty chapters, but that could change at any time.

The rating is T at the moment, but that could also change at any time. I'll be sure to warn you first if it does. Enjoy!

* * *

**Sorry**

After a lovely meal at Breadstix, the pair walked home together side-by-side. Their hands knocked and grazed against one another's, and Quinn wondered what it would be like to hold Rachel's hand.

They always used to hold hands when they were little, but that was different.

"So where does this leave us?" Quinn asked out of the blue. So far the walk had been in dead silence, but there were so many things Quinn wanted to ask that only Rachel could answer.

Not even knowing how to answer the question, Rachel looked down at the ground and began to walk a little further away from Quinn, leaving more of a gap between them now. Quinn whimpered quietly at the loss of touch to her hand, and wondered if it would be too much if she reached out to grab Rachel's.

"Honestly?" said Rachel, stopping in her tracks and turning to look at Quinn expectantly.

The blonde nodded. "Yes. Please. Honestly."

"I don't know," Rachel murmured, and Quinn's heart sunk. It wasn't as if Rachel had said they couldn't be together; it was just the fact that she hadn't said they _could_.

"Believe me when I say I love you, Quinn, because I really do," Rachel insisted. "I'm just not so sure that I'm ready for a relationship...with you."

Tears brimmed Quinn's eyes, and she tried desperately to hold them back.

"Please don't cry," whispered Rachel, stroking her thumb gently across Quinn's cheek and wiping away any of the crystal clear fallen tears.

"Then tell me we can be together," she begged, placing her hand on top of Rachel's and holding it to her cheek.

Rachel sighed. "But I'm not so sure that we can. At least not yet. You've tortured me for two years after we used to be best friends. How can I trust being in a relationship with you?"

This stung Quinn ever so badly, but she knew that there was a lot of truth to it. "I promise I'll never do anything like that again. I was just scared of my reputation."

And there it was.

That was the truth Rachel needed to hear.

"Yeah, exactly," she mumbled, shaking Quinn's hand off of her own and dropping to her side, leaving Quinn's fingertips touching her own cheek.

Quinn had really done it now. Why had she had to say that? She'd gone and ruined _everything_ between them, and lost all hope of them ever being together.

"I just don't think you'd be able to handle being in a relationship with me," Rachel confessed. "I don't think you'd be able to commit to it, and I don't think you'd be able to deal with your precious reputation suffering."

Rachel was almost snapping at Quinn, and it made her want to burst into tears all over again.

"Rachel, please!" she protested. "I've changed! I'll make you happy!"

Sighing, Rachel shook her head. "I'm sorry. I love you, and maybe someday we can be together. But right now, I just can't, okay?"

Though she was reluctant, Quinn nodded meekly. "Okay." Her voice was so quiet it was almost silent, but Rachel was just about able to hear it.

"I'm gonna walk the rest of the way home on my own," Rachel told Quinn. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

Quinn didn't answer, and instead she just stood and watched as Rachel began her twenty minute walk home without her.

* * *

That night, Quinn lay on her bed and stared up at her ceiling. She didn't move, she didn't speak.

She stayed as quiet as she could.

All she did was think.

She thought about where she had gone wrong.

She thought about why she had done what she did.

She thought about if her reputation had really been worth losing Rachel over.

She thought about why it had taken her so long to discover her feelings for Rachel.

She thought about how much she hated herself for hurting Rachel.

She thought about how everything Rachel had said had been one hundred percent right.

But most importantly, she thought about how she was going to convince Rachel that she was ready for a relationship with her.

Changing Rachel's mind was going to be hard work, but she was determined to do it. She would do whatever it took, to prove to Rachel that her reputation meant nothing to her anymore and all she wanted was to be with Rachel and make her happy.

_Watch out, Rachel Berry,_ she thought to herself with a smirk. _I will sweep you off your feet._

* * *

Rachel had always loved the bench at the back of her very large garden. It was a place she could just sit and think, without being disturbed. Or sometimes she would just sit out there so that she could take in the beauty of her wonderful garden.

Tonight, after everything that had happened with Quinn, all she wanted to do was think.

So she did.

Everything that was worrying her or causing her to question herself, she thought about.

She took Quinn's begs and promises into consideration.

Was Quinn ready to give up her reputation to be with her?

Was _she_ ready to give up everything to be with Quinn?

They were questions only she and Quinn had the answers to. But right now, she couldn't find them anywhere. And neither could Quinn.

* * *

Judy frowned at her daughter, who was sat opposite her at the kitchen island, swirling her breakfast around with a spoon. She wasn't sure Quinn had actually eaten _any_ of it.

"Are you not going to eat today, Quinn?" she finally asked, getting fed up of watching her daughter playing with her breakfast instead of eating it.

"Not hungry," Quinn mumbled without looking up. Instead she just continued to twirl the spoon around inside the bowl and scrape cornflakes off the sides.

"Do you not like cornflakes anymore? I thought you did. Oh, well. That's fine! Here, have some toast instead," Judy rambled on, leaning forward to pass a plate of toast over to Quinn.

"Leave her, Jude," Russell commanded. "She said she's not hungry. You can't force her to eat if she doesn't want to."

For the first time since yesterday evening, Quinn looked up and smiled. "Thanks, dad."

Russell nodded in her direction. "But if this keeps up and turns into a habit, we will _force_ you to eat. Do you hear me?"

Reasonable enough. "I hear you."

"Good."

Deciding she really couldn't bare to sit here any longer, Quinn hopped down from her stool. "I'm gonna head to school early."

"Bye, darling," said Russell, kissing his daughter's forehead.

"Bye, sweetie!" Judy enthused, waving as her youngest daughter sauntered into the hall and picked up everything she needed before disappearing out of the front door.

As soon as the door was closed again, Judy scowled at her husband.

"What?" he demanded to know.

"You shouldn't have done that," she said in a harsh tone.

Russell only shrugged. "She didn't want to eat."

"What if she's becoming anorexic?" Judy panicked. "We must make her eat before it leads to that!"

He sighed and shook his head. "You over think things, Jude. She just wasn't hungry. But that's why I told her we will take action if it persists. You're just too dramatic. You are a lot like Rachel."

Judy's face became saddened at the mention of her daughter's old best friend. "Thank you. I miss her."

"We all do, Jude. We all do."

And they did. All of the Fabrays missed Rachel.

And all of the Berries missed Quinn.

* * *

As Quinn walked down the school halls that morning, a lot of people came up to her.

"What's it like kissing a dwarf?" a hockey player, Ryan Nolan, yelled in a cocky tone.

"I hear she was the bashful one in this case, and you came onto her?" another male student whom she did not know the name of shouted.

"So Finn really was just a beard, hey? That's low, Fabray!" a jock who played football with Finn shouted. It was Chad whatever-his-surname-was.

More of them continued to shout, but she didn't hear any of them. She was completely frozen.

It seemed to be that Rachel had turned onto this hall at the opposite end, because students were turning away and shouting some things in the other direction, that could only be aimed at Rachel.

"Ooh, getting it on with Fabray, are you?" someone called to her.

Quinn felt deepest sympathy for her, and the look on her face pained her.

Rachel's cheeks were completely drained of their usual rosy glow, and her face was shocked and in disbelief.

"Hey, everyone," a footballer's voice boomed through the speakers. Clearly he had broken into Principal Figgins' or Sue Sylvester's office. "I had a few TVs nailed to the walls around the school, so if you could just turn to the one nearest to you, we have a little video for you all to watch."

A few sniggers also sounded through the speakers, meaning that he wasn't alone in whatever office he was in.

Everybody, including Quinn and Rachel, turned to face the TV on the wall, and the two girls' almost fainted when they saw the video that began to play on the screen.


End file.
